VCU senior left-hander Heath Dwyer is 4-1 for VCU this season with a 3.46 ERA.

RICHMOND, Va. – VCU may be facing 14th-ranked Virginia at an opportune time. The Rams are hitting the baseball at an impressive rate, a trend they hope continues deep into Tuesday evening.

Senior shortstop Vimael Machin has led the way. Machin, who was named Atlantic 10 Conference Player of the Week on Monday, is in the midst of a 15-game hitting streak. He was 11-of-18 with six RBIs and a gaudy .696 on-base-percentage in five games last week for the Rams.

Machin was already an accomplished hitter – he entered the year batting .299 for his VCU career – before his recent hot streak, but he’s on a different level right now. Machin is batting .363 overall, eighth in the A-10, with 23 RBIs.

In addition, centerfielder Logan Farrar was 11-of-23 last week, including a 5-of-6 performance in Friday’s 16-3 win over UMass. He is hitting .303 this year with a .421 on-base-percentage, second only on the team to Machin.

“I think the biggest thing has been consistency in our routine,” he said. “I think the weather has broken, and to be able to get out here for practices on days like this and continue to work on our game. Everyone always knows, when the weather heats up, so do the bats, usually.”

VCU’s early season schedule was fraught with weather troubles. The Rams even moved consecutive home series to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina to escape the unseasonably cold winter in Richmond.

“You never want to use it as an excuse, but this [was] probably as bad as during my tenure here in Richmond,” he added.

The Rams are hitting .272 overall and are scoring an average of 5.2 runs per game.

FEVER PITCHDespite VCU’s recent offensive flare up, the real strength of this year’s team has been keeping opponents off the scoreboard.

The Rams possess the lowest ERA (2.84) in the A-10 and the second highest fielding percentage (.976). VCU pitchers rank 19th nationally in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.12) and 14th in strikeouts per nine innings (9.2).

“Hitting kind of comes and goes and plays off of itself, one guy gets hot then two guys get hot, but if you can consistently pitch and play defense, you’re going to be in the game more times than not, and that’s something I take my hat off to our pitchers about. They’ve been outstanding all year,” Stiffler said.

VCU’s pitching depth has been impressive. All three weekend starters (JoJo Howie, Heath Dwyer and Matt Blanchard) own ERAs of 3.54 or better, while the bullpen has been anchored by senior lefty Matt Lees, who hasn’t been scored upon in 13 appearances (19.1 innings).

In Lees’ case, it’s been a nice bounce-back from an injury-plagued junior year. But for Dwyer, this is business as usual.

A four-year fixture in the VCU rotation, Dwyer, 21-13 lifetime for the Rams, continues to chug along. The left-hander from Arizona spun seven innings of 3-hit ball against UMass on Sunday, striking out 10. In his last three starts he is 2-0 and has allowed just one earned run in 18 1/3 innings. Dwyer is 4-1 in eight starts this season with a 3.46 ERA.

RICHMOND, Va. – It doesn’t take long for Matt Lees to go from bullpen observer to shutdown reliever. The senior lefty says it requires a little more than a dozen warm-up tosses before he’s game-ready.

The routine, which he’s compressed over the years, has served him well. No one has made more appearances out of the VCU bullpen the last four years than Lees.

“I love it,” says the ever-ready lefty. “It definitely brings a lot of confidence to the team when they see I can run out there on one days rest or no days rest. It gives them a real boost.”

This year, once warm, Lees has been red hot.

In 12 appearances this season, covering 18 1/3 innings, Lees is 4-0 and has not surrendered a run. It’s been a boost for VCU (13-10), which found itself short on arms at times last year, but has watched Lees help anchor a staff that ranks second in the A-10 in ERA (2.95).

Lees, who ranks fourth in school history with 19 saves, has enjoyed plenty of success as a Ram, but this recent streak has been especially gratifying for the Richmond native, whose senior season was once in doubt. Just a few months ago, Lees and the VCU coaching staff weren’t sure what he’d deliver this season.

He wasn’t highly recruited out of Richmond’s Godwin High School, but Lees made a name for himself at VCU as a guy who threw strikes and threw often. What Lees didn’t have in velocity, he made up for in movement, consistency and availability. He led the Rams in appearances in both 2012 and 2013, and ranked second last season. He needs two more appearances to become just the third pitcher in program history with 100.

As a sophomore, Lees was spectacular, recording 11 saves and a 1.22 ERA in 30 games.

Last season, he wasn’t the same. Lees relied on accuracy and ball movement to keep hitters off-balance, but his elbow ached and his pitches flattened out. He allowed 49 hits in 38 innings and his ERA climbed to 5.45. Opposing batters hit .318 against him.

“With any sport you’re going to have those nagging issues,” Lees said. “Last year, I knew something was different and something didn’t feel right.”

“I think he threw the baseball well last year, but don’t think he ever felt real comfortable,” VCU Coach Shawn Stiffler said. “It’s not that his stuff wasn’t good at times, it’s just that he didn’t have that finish through the [strike] zone that I’ve seen him have in past years. In the past, the ball would explode through the last half on the way to the batter.”

The source of Lees’ discomfort was an avulsion fracture, a condition in which a ligament pulls a segment of bone away from the main mass of bone. Surgery isn’t always necessary with an avulsion tear, but it is a possibility.

Stiffler and Lees settled on a rehabilitation plan. He says if Lees didn’t show progress by October, the plan was to shut him down and opt for surgery. In addition to rehab, Lees worked with the VCU staff to change his arm slot in order to reduce the strain on his elbow. He’d previously thrown mostly from an over-the-top or three-quarters position. Eventually, Lees found comfort in a nearly sidearm release that he’d used occasionally in high school.

It was a dramatic shift for a pitcher at this stage of his career. Pitching is a science of precision, and even the slightest bit of tinkering with a hurler’s mechanics can lead to problems locating the baseball. But Stiffler trusted Lees’ work ethic.

“Matt’s one of those guys that, he’s one of those people that when he has his mind set that he’s going to do something, he’s going to do it. We always know with Matt what the effort is going to be. It wasn’t going to be, ‘oh well, it didn’t work out today, now I’m scrapping it’. When he commits to something, he commits to it,” Stiffler said.

Lees says it only took a handful of bullpen throwing sessions before he became comfortable. The results appear to agree. Opposing batters are hitting just .147 – a career-best – off Lees this season. More importantly, Lees’ elbow has remained sound.

“It feels great,” Lees says. “It feels better than it has in a long time. The rehab definitely helped. The stress from the arm slot is helping me too. It’s a completely different motion. It’s more natural than going over the top.”

Stiffler says the VCU coaching staff will watch Lees and his workload closely, but so far, the results are encouraging. While he isn’t closing as much as in recent years, Lees does lead the staff in appearances and has been called on in a number of high-pressure situations for the Rams.

“If I hand him the ball in the ninth inning, I feel very comfortable doing that. Danny [Conception] has kind of taken over that role for us this year,” Stiffler said. “We’re using Matt more a stopper than as a true closer this year.”

Not that it concerns Lees, who says he’s pretty much ready any time, anywhere.

“Saves really don’t matter,” he says. “I like going up and competing. Whatever’s best for the team to help the team win is what I want to do.”

My first organized baseball experience was an unmitigated disaster. I was 11, and an aspiring third baseman for Luciano’s of the Austintown Little League – we didn’t have fancy team names; we just slapped the font of whatever funeral home or local eatery ponied up 100 bucks to buy the uniforms on the jersey. My dad, a firm man with little patience for the frivolous concerns of 11 year olds, was the coach.

We were terrible by every measure. In two seasons, we went 5-25. I played one year with my dad’s softball glove, which was so large that on at least one occasion, I lost a ground ball in it. We lost one game 22-1. This was not the Little League World Series Regionals you see today on ESPN. This was the “Bad News Bears” without Kelly Leak to save us.

Whether by masochism or persistence, baseball stuck with me, and not a spring comes around where I don’t have a twinge to go shag fly balls. That’s why it’s nice when we clear our desks of basketball’s bustle, baseball is there waiting for us. VCU Baseball is waiting for you too, out at The Diamond. If my tale of childhood failure and triumph wasn’t enough to compel you to take in a game, here are a few more reasons to go see the Rams this spring.

1-Dollar Hot Dogs. I’m really not sure why I need to explain this, as it should be self-evident, but I will, just in case there are some savages among us. For every weekday game at The Diamond, VCU Baseball will offer hot dogs for one single, glorious American dollar bill. If you’re a sweet-talking lad, you might even be able to procure a dog for four Canadian quarters, but you didn’t hear that here. Hot dogs and baseball go together like Shaka Smart and Havoc. You can have one without the other, but why would you? Also, don’t trouble me with your self-righteous bluster about hot dog ingredients. I don’t know how a carburetor works either, and I’m cool with that.

2-Everybody loves a winner. The Rams have won nine of 12 heading into Wednesday’s game with Longwood. They viciously drubbed VMI 18-0 Tuesday. Just reading that score game me Little League flashbacks, but without the sweet, sugary embrace of postgame candy from the concession stand.

4-Boulevard Baseball. Richmond’s Boulevard corridor is back. You can now make a day of VCU Baseball. You’ve got BBQ at Buzz and Ned’s, Chinese at Fat Dragon, not to mention all the restaurant and craft beer options in Scott’s Addition. Heck, you can even catch a postgame movie at the Bow Tie Cinemas. “Major League” is not currently playing, FYI. Anyone recommending “Summer Catch” can see themselves out.

5-Walker Haymaker. He’s a junior catcher from Orlando, and he’s got a terrific baseball name. I fully expect him to host an outdoors show with Bear Grylls in the future. He’s also batting nearly .300.

6-Zero point zero zero. Senior lefty Matt Lees has made 12 appearances this season out of VCU’s bullpen, spanning 18.1 innings, and has not allowed a run. He also likes bowling and worked on the Richmond Flying Squirrels’ grounds crew. Those are all true statements.

7-MAJOR talent. Fourteen Rams have made it to the Big Leagues, nine since the turn of the century, and dozens of others have been drafted by Major League franchises. Unfortunately, none of them have helped my Cleveland Indians win a World Series. It’s been 67 years, in case you were wondering (**begins sobbing uncontrollably**).

8-You need to get out more anyway. Look, it’s been a long winter, and you’re looking a little pale. A little fresh air will be good for you. You can do that by leading your canine around foam fire hydrants at the dog park or seated behind the plate with a dollar dog and a cold beverage. Your move, player.

9-Pitch perfect. The Rams have been dealing this season. VCU ranks second in the A-10 in ERA (3.04) and leads the league in strikeouts per nine innings (9.38) and fewest walks per nine (2.99). That allows for plenty of this:

The loss of Weber was a tectonic shift. Gone was the frenzied piranha havoc defense. Gone was the senior point guard. Factor in the number two scorer and number five rebounder in school history suffered a significant injury.

This was not November and we were not playing Bethune Cookman with months to figure it out. This was February in the A10, and they didn’t blink.

While Shaka kept us a preoccupied with coaching vagaries like the process and the plan, he and his staff was busily re-crafting where the chess pieces would go. Roles would change.

It got worse before it got better, but to the credit of the players they never lost focus. They believed.

And it came together over those four days in Brooklyn.

Before he dove into the underground, mid-major Pied Piper Kyle Whelliston used to tell us, “It always ends with a loss”, a cold reality for all but the national champion (or NIT/CBI, but even those are pretty hollow).

That last loss is always the toughest, and has the power to skew the impact of the previous 35 games. Although I would have selfishly loved to stay two more days in the Pacific Northwest because I love Portland and I love basketball, the legacy of this team is not one afternoon in Portland against Ohio State. No, it’s four days in Brooklyn.

I’m sure VCU’s 1996 and 2004 CAA Championships, which ended extended NCAA droughts, were emotional nights. Those who were there can feel free to share their stories. But I can’t imagine it approaching what we felt at Barclays this March, watching Briante Weber hop to center court in celebration, then climb that ladder. For me, it’s right there with Eric Maynor’s Dagger and the Final Four. Chills. All of it.

These guys are champions, and one overtime loss to a team with a lottery pick isn’t going to change how I feel about that.

As far as moving forward goes, I’ll get back to you in a week or so. That’s for April. I’m not ready to let go of that which happened just two weeks ago. I want to let that feeling marinate before I start shuffling potential starting lineups or bedazzling my airbrushed Tevin Mack t-shirt.

The frenetic schedule this March decided that we got approximately three hours to celebrate the conference championship – and what that meant – before turning wagons west for Oregon. Now that we’ve stopped accumulating airline miles, we can start to appreciate five mostly fantastic months.

This senior class, which won over 100 games and two conference championships, and reached four NCAA Tournaments, probably deserves at least that much. Treveon Graham is the No. 2 scorer in school history and Weber is probably the best defender we’ve ever seen. I think I’ll hang onto these clips playing over and over in my head, Weber’s steal and dunk against Butler, Weber’s other steals and other dunks against (insert opponent), Graham’s heroics at Virginia and Rhode Island and La Salle, three seniors hugging on the Barclays Center floor, a band of brothers that refused to go quietly. Nah, I’m good for now. Call me in April.

Ohio State freshman D’Angelo Russell is averaging 19.3 points, 5.6 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game this season.

PORTLAND, Ore. – Much of the talk surrounding VCU’s NCAA Tournament Round of 64 match-up with Ohio State has centered on Buckeyes’ star guard D’Angelo Russell, and for good reason.

Russell, a 6-foot-5 freshman, was recently named All-America by the United States Basketball Writers Association. The Louisville, Kentucky native ranks first nationally among freshmen in scoring (19.3 ppg) and is third in assists (168). Should he declare this spring, Russell is likely a top-five NBA Draft pick. NBADraftExpress.com has him third in its most recent mock draft.

VCU’s game plan will likely dedicate a chunk of attention to slowing down Russell, who has shown little difficulty adjusting to college basketball. A deft ball handler, Russell has also hit 90 three-pointers this year and leads Ohio State in rebounding (5.6 rpg). But it’s his passing skills that have people talking. From one-handed, laser bounce feeds to eye-popping spin passes in traffic, Russell’s vision, and the ability to get the ball into small spaces makes him especially dangerous.

VCU’s Michael Gilmore can vouch for Russell’s skills. They were AAU teammates with Each1 Teach1 in Florida. Gilmore soon realized that Russell wasn’t like other point guards.

“There would be times [in the huddle] where he’d just yell at me, roll, roll, roll after I set screens for him because after a couple of times where I didn’t think I was open,” Gilmore said. “I started trusting him with it. He’s a very good passer.”

Gilmore also has first-hand knowledge of how Russell’s scoring and passing ability play off of each other.

“There were times where you didn’t know if he was shooting it, if he was going to pass it to you. That’s just the type of person he is, that’s the player he is. He’s crafty. He’s shifty. He’s unpredictable, and that’s how he gets all his scoring off of stuff like that,” Gilmore said.

VCU back-up point guard Jonathan Williams, who attended St. Benedict’s Prep in New Jersey, played against Russell, who attended Montverde Academy in Florida, at the 2013 ESPN National High School Basketball Invitational. Montverde won 67-65.

“He’s real good. Very crafty,” Williams said.

But while Williams is impressed with Russell’s game, he cautioned against losing sight of the rest of Ohio State’s players.

“If you key too much on him you’ve got somebody like Shannon Scott or Sam Thompson that will get off, so you’ve just got to work on containing him and stuff like that,” he said.

BROOKS BREAKS THROUGHVCU sophomore guard Doug Brooks has been one VCU’s most-improved players this season. After a freshman year in which he averaged just 1.9 points and shot 26 percent from the field in limited action, Brooks has become a critical piece of VCU’s success. He’s averaging 4.9 points per game and is shooting 39 percent (27-of-69) from 3-point range. He’s also become one of VCU’s best on-ball defenders.

Brooks averaged just 4.4 minutes per game as a freshman, but his role has steadily grown this season, and he recently played his way into VCU’s starting lineup.

The crystalizing moment of Brooks’ breakout season came in the waning moments of the Atlantic 10 Championship Game on March 15. With the Rams clinging to a two-point lead with a minute remaining, Brooks came up with a steal and fed a streaking JeQuan Lewis for a bucket that helped seal the Rams’ victory.

“I feel great for him because he’s come so far,” VCU Coach Shaka Smart said afterwards. “I really believed coming into this year that after Briante [Weber] that he was our next best energy guy at just making things happen and having great intensity and flying around on the defensive end. He’s not Bri, there will never be another Bri, but he’s helped a lot with plays like that.”

Brooks seems at home now, but it wasn’t always that way. Earlier this season, Smart said Brooks “nearly quit” over frustration that stemmed from finding a role with the Rams. During one five-game stretch early in the year, Brooks recorded four games with eight minutes or less and one DNP (did not play).

“This season has been great,” Brooks said Wednesday. “Ups, downs, like always, but I just fought through it and stuck through the process.”

Brooks admits he was considered leaving the program at one point, but decided against it.

“It was really tough for me because I wasn’t playing. I’m a competitor. If we won, I felt like I wasn’t part of it just because I really didn’t do anything,” he said.

Brooks says he confided in his high school coaches for advice.

“I feel like I was able to stick it out because my coach back home told me, it’s part of the process. You’ve got to stick with it and fight through it because life doesn’t always go your way, so just stick with things and hopefully, God’s will, things will come my way.”

Of late, they have. He was inserted into the starting lineup six games ago and provided three crucial 3-pointers in VCU’s A-10 quarterfinal win over Richmond, not to mention his steal in the Dayton game.

On the floor, Brooks just looks different. As a freshman, Brooks was prone to shoot the ball as soon as he touched it. He’s approaching the game differently these days.

“I’ve got a better attitude this year, better than last year. That’s probably why I’m playing more,” he said. “Last year I was selfish. This year I want to play more team ball, and I know what it takes to win, and being selfish doesn’t win…and taking a shot every time I catch it isn’t always the right thing.”

QUOTABLES“I mean, that’s the first time we heard that they were going to be the underdogs in this matchup, voted a lower seed. Like I said since the seeding came out, we’ve been watching prediction after prediction, expert after expert saying they got a one, they got a top three pick, he’s mainly going to be the engine that make them go. This is the first time we heard about them being the underdog. We always have a chip on our shoulder, find something to motivate us. We don’t know whether we’re going to take the underdog approach or whether they do, we don’t really care. We’re just going to go out and attack.” – Melvin Johnson

“Every game, if I feel like he’s not shooting the ball or he’s hesitating, I try to go to him and let him know I need him to shoot no matter if he’s making or missing. It opens up the floor not just for me, but Mo. We need him to shoot no matter what’s going on in the game. If he can play defense and make his shots, he’s a great player.” — Treveon Graham on Melvin Johnson

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Amid the chaotic celebration, Briante Weber hobbled over to the ladder. With the help of his teammates, he ascended toward the rim for the first time in weeks, and snipped the last remaining loop of the net. With the snap of the scissors, he freed the net from the metal rim and officially cut VCU loose of its late-season quagmire.

Weber’s symbolic act punctuated a dizzying VCU sprint to its first Atlantic 10 Championship. The Rams, preseason favorites relegated to the No. 5 seed after losing six of their final 11 regular season games, shocked the league with four wins in four days to claim the title. The final victory came Sunday, as the Rams held off Dayton 71-65 in a thrilling A-10 Championship Game at Barclays Center.

At the final buzzer, Weber, his right knee immobilized following season-ending knee surgery, hopped to midcourt to celebrate before breaking down in tears as he was mobbed by teammates.

It capped a week that redefined VCU’s season. Last week, the Rams were a team struggling to find an identity in the long shadow cast by Weber’s Jan. 31 torn ACL. For four years he had been the engine of VCU’s high-energy brand of basketball and the emotional backbone of the program. But as abruptly as Weber’s career was cut tragically short, VCU found its championship form.

“Words really can’t explain how proud I am of these guys,” said Weber, the first player to win three A-10 Defensive Player of the Year awards. “It’s been an emotional roller coaster for us, when I went out with an injury, and then us winning, losing, everybody hopping off the bandwagon and so forth.

“But just know behind closed doors we had our talks and all our emotional stuff; when we step in between those lines, from March to the last bit of February, we kind of found ourselves again and that’s what we need to keep building on that right now.”

Weber’s loss was devastating to VCU, which was ranked 14th at the time. But Sunday’s victory – one that seemed improbable as recently as Wednesday – allowed the Rams fulfill a promise they made to their fallen point guard.

“When I went out, Jan. 31, they all came together and said, ‘Bri, we’re going to cut down the net, and you know who is going to be the last one holding the net?’ They told me it was going to be me, and I believed them,” Weber said, a snippet of the net threaded through his championship hat’s strap. “And now we get here today, and I was the one cutting down the net. That made me very emotional.”

“We told Bri when he went down, we were going to do it for him,” said Tournament MVP Treveon Graham, who finished with 20 points and 13 rebounds Sunday. “The rest of the season was for him. We dug down and everybody had to find themselves. JeQuan [Lewis] and Johnny [Williams] had to step into their role. And coming into this tournament, Johnny really stepped up being a freshman, he really attacked and he really believed in himself and I think that really helped us and help JeQuan get to where he needed to be. Bri was always there for us, his enthusiasm, his energy is always there. It’s great to be here now.”

Since the injury, Weber has served as a fervent cheerleader and coach from the VCU bench. Despite one bad knee, he rarely sat down during games and he continued to dress in full uniform. Even though he could no longer play, he wanted to lead.

“It really, really kills him every time he can’t take the court, and his team does take the court,” VCU Coach Shaka Smart said. “His attitude has been so good, and he’s been so great in the locker room with our guys on the bench. And he gets hit with waves of emotion ‑‑ and I knew he would after the game, win or lose. I told him, we would not have done this without you, and he knows what I meant. What I meant was, we would not have done this without him after he got hurt. I’m not even talking about what he did on the court for us; and he’s an all‑league‑caliber player. But after he got hurt, that’s no way we are able to win this championship without him.”

With Weber cheering them on, VCU finally found a way to win without him this week in Brooklyn. Following an opening victory over Fordham, VCU dropped Richmond, Davidson and Dayton, the same three teams that recently comprised the Rams’ first three-game losing streak in nine years.

The Rams did it by redefining what they were without Weber. Point guards Lewis and Williams played some of their best ball of the season. Lewis had 15 points Sunday and hit two free throws with 7.9 seconds left to secure the title.

Melvin Johnson, a sleek-shooting guard, rediscovered his 3-point stroke. Mo Alie-Cox, who earned a spot on the All-Tournament team, grew up before our eyes with an 18-point, 8-rebound effort against Davidson in the semifinals, and a workman-like 13 and 4 in the championship contest.

Doug Brooks hit big threes throughout the tournament and came up with a critical steal and assist with 55 seconds remaining when Dayton had drawn within two points. Freshman Terry Larrier, who entered the tournament shooting 64 percent from the free throw line, hit 17-of-18 in four games, including 4-of-4 in two crucial 1-and-1 situations in the final 40 seconds.

“It’s just a relief,” Graham said. “All the hard work that we went through this season, all the adversity we had to go through. When Bri was out, everybody had to get a new role and everybody had to step up, and just the satisfaction to know that all hard work paid off.”

A short time later, the champs gathered inside their hotel to watch the NCAA Selection Show. At the front of the room sat the A-10 Championship trophy, a glistening prize from one of the most memorable weekends in program history. Seated in the crowd, watching intently was Weber, wearing the Barclays Center net around his neck.

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Momentum is a funny, nebulous concept, but if there was ever proof of how quickly it can shift, it was VCU’s impressive – and for many, unexpected – 93-73 upset of regular season champ Davidson Saturday in the Atlantic 10 Tournament semifinals at Barclays Center.

Left for dead a little over a week ago by some prognosticators, VCU is back to wreaking havoc on brackets. The Rams are storming into the A-10 title game for the third straight year Sunday, where they’ll take on Dayton. The Flyers topped Rhode Island in Saturday’s semifinal nightcap. It will be VCU’s fifth straight appearance in a conference championship game.

Just days ago, VCU’s victory would have been considered as unlikely as a Knicks winning streak. At times, the Rams made it look easy against Davidson, hitting 12 three-pointers on the way to victory.

The Rams didn’t just beat a red-hot Davidson team Saturday, avenging an 82-55 blowout loss on March 5, VCU dominated the Wildcats for long stretches, and displayed championship form. It was Davidson’s first loss in 11 games, and VCU’s best performance since losing point guard Briante Weber to injury on Jan. 31. VCU’s 93 points were the most by a Davidson opponent in three months.

“We played with a lot of enthusiasm today. We wanted to go out there and attack from the get-go. We had our ups and downs and responded pretty well today, and we’re going to have to do that for the rest of the season,” said senior Treveon Graham, who finished with 18 points.

It had been nine days since VCU and Davidson last met, but it might as well have been nine years.

In the meeting at Davidson’s Belk Arena, the Wildcats summarily thumped VCU from the opening tip to the final horn. The 82-55 loss was VCU’s third straight at the time and the worst of the season. It also helped propel Davidson to the A-10 regular season title. As the Wildcats were surging, VCU appeared to be headed in the opposite direction.

The defeat capped VCU’s first three-game losing streak since the 2005-06 season and triggered some soul-searching in the Rams’ lockerroom. Without the dynamic Weber, the Rams struggled to find an identity. Following the Davidson loss, it was his replacement, JeQuan Lewis, that helped VCU start to pick up the pieces.

“People sat with their heads down. JeQuan was the main person talking,” said sophomore Mo Alie-Cox. “He started telling us, ‘Don’t keep your heads down. The season is not over. Just focus on the A-10 Tournament’. That’s all we can focus on coming up. We couldn’t control our destiny anymore. So we just focused our attention on this tournament…and we’ve been doing pretty well.”

Now, the Rams will play for a championship.

In the wake of that loss, VCU slowly began to find itself with three straight wins. But it was nothing like Saturday’s breakout effort. VCU came in with clear motivation. For nine days, that blowout lingered.

“Yeah it did. It was real humiliating when we were down there, so we just wanted to come out and play our game,” Graham said. “When we played at Davidson, we didn’t even play our game. We weren’t aggressive. We just laid down pretty much. So, we just wanted to come out here and really just attack from the get-go.”

The game certainly didn’t seem to be headed in that direction in the early moments. Much like it did nine days ago at home, Davidson raced out to a big early lead at 16-4. Nine days ago, VCU never did find an answer. This time, the Rams responded with one of the season’s most emphatic counter punches.

VCU used a stunning 40-12 blitz the final 12 minutes of the first half to take a 44-28 halftime lead. Davidson, which opened the game by hitting six of its first nine shots, succumbed to VCU’s pressure and watched as the Rams found comfort in the open floor. The Rams hit 8-of-14 threes in the opening half. Meanwhile, Davidson closed the period with 5-of-20 shooting.

“I think seeing the ball go in yesterday a few times [against Richmond] was big for our guys,” VCU Coach Shaka Smart said. “The other thing, and I know I sound like a broken record, but we got a lot of high-quality shots.”

It wasn’t just outside shooting. While VCU has found its outside stroke in this tournament, it also got a career-high 18 points and eight rebounds from Alie-Cox down low. Seven of his rebounds came on the offensive end as he used his 6-foot-6, 250-pound frame to outmuscle Davidson’s Peyton Aldridge and Andrew McAuliffe around the basket. Alie-Cox’s production was in stark contrast to his nine-point, four-rebound line in the last meeting.

“I had the exact same looks against Davidson the last time we played them. I was 1-of-6 from the line and I missed a dunk and two easy layups,” Alie-Cox said. “I got the same looks today and made sure I finished. Coach just told me to go in there and attack them, that they can’t guard me. Coach called a lot of plays for me to start the game.”

Despite VCU’s first-half salvo, Davidson did not go quietly. The Wildcats, who overcame an 18-point deficit to beat La Salle on Friday, trailed by as much as 22 before they put together a blistering 16-0 second-half run and closed within 57-52 with 10:18 left.

But the Rams had more than one big response in them Saturday. Freshman point guard Jonathan Williams hit a pull-up jumper in the lane and found Alie-Cox with a zone-busting bounce pass for a dunk a possession later to spark a 10-0 VCU run. The Wildcats could get no closer than 11 the rest of the way as VCU, which came into the game shooting 64 percent at the free throw line this year, hit 18-of-20 free throws in the final 7:57.

“I think we played with much better energy. We defended their motion much better,” Smart said. “We were certainly far from perfect, but Davidson is a team, if you’re just a half-step off defending their motion, they make you pay and make you look really bad, and they did that to us nine days ago.

“I thought the way our guys gritted their teeth and said, ‘We can be better’ was big, and we were able to get more stops.”